Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has pushed back against claims questioning the decentralization of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and clarified the company’s strategy for its stablecoin, RLUSD.
Schwartz explicitly stated that XRP was not launched through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), noting that all 100 billion XRP tokens were placed into a Genesis account upon launch with zero market value. This distribution model occurred without any public fundraising, contrasting the mechanism used by many other digital assets.
Addressing recent criticism over RLUSD, Schwartz emphasized Ripple’s dual-chain approach. RLUSD operates natively on both the Ethereum network and the XRPL, a design intended to enhance accessibility and compatibility for users across ecosystems. Ripple maintains this strategy supports and complements the XRP Ledger’s infrastructure rather than diminishing it.
This clarification follows critiques, such as that from Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long, who questioned the XRPL’s utility following RLUSD’s issuance primarily on Ethereum. Ripple countered, stating RLUSD supports both networks and does not undermine XRP’s role.
Supporting Ripple’s decentralization claims, an independent XRPL validator highlighted over 1,000 active validators operating the network at present. These validators are not under Ripple’s control, reinforcing the company’s position on the ledger’s distributed nature.
Despite these defenses and Ripple’s ongoing efforts to drive XRP adoption, particularly seeking traction within the banking sector, skepticism regarding the asset’s core purpose and design persists among some industry voices.